Former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday made his first public appearance since his shock resignation in July, attending the swearing-in of his successor C.P. Radhakrishnan at the President's House.
Dhankhar, who had stepped down to "prioritise health care", looked in fine fettle as he greeted and chatted with fellow dignitaries, among them Union home minister Amit Shah.
He sat with his wife Sudesh Dhankhar in the front row, beside Venkaiah Naidu, whom he had succeeded as Vice-President in 2022.
While the focus of the event was on the new Vice-President, Dhankhar attracted special attention with his return to the public eye 53 days after his sudden resignation.
Dhankhar had stepped down after a full working day in the Rajya Sabha as the House’s presiding officer on July 21, the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament. His term was to end in August 2027.
His prolonged disappearance from the public eye since then had led the Opposition to raise questions on his whereabouts and safety. Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal had said he was contemplating a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court.
It is widely believed that Dhankhar resigned under political pressure.
Early this month, Dhankhar had stepped out of his official residence for a dental checkup. He was, however, not captured on camera then, unlike Friday’s event.
Dhankhar has vacated his official bungalow and moved to a private farmhouse in south Delhi, owned by Indian National Lok Dal chief Abhay Chautala.
The usually voluble Dhankhar has, however, not broken his silence yet on the real reason behind his resignation.
Seating snub
No Opposition leader was assigned a front-row seat at Radhakrishnan’s swearing-in as the country’s 15th Vice-President.
Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, sat in the second row while other Opposition leaders were assigned the fifth row.
The front row featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other senior ministers, NDA leaders, several chief ministers, former President Ram Nath Kovind and former Vice-Presidents Dhankhar, Naidu and Hamid Ansari.
In a breach of convention, an announcement was made about Modi’s arrival at the Republic Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan at 10am, the scheduled time for the ceremony. President Droupadi Murmu’s arrival at 10.06am, too, was announced.
Conventionally, arrivals are not announced at Rashtrapati Bhavan events. All the dignitaries quietly take their seats before the arrival of the President, who is ushered in by aides-de-camp in a slow march, conducted to the call of the bugle.
Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, did not attend the swearing-in, attracting BJP accusations of having insulted the Constitution through his absence. The DMK, too, stayed away.
The Rajya Sabha floor leaders were later invited to tea with the new Vice-President, the ex officio Chair of the Upper House.
Many Opposition leaders, however, could not attend the 12.30pm tea meeting as they had not been told beforehand and needed to rush to catch their flights home.